Report: House Hearing On Internet Radio Fairness Act Set For Late November

November 5, 2012

The House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet will reportedly hold a hearing on the proposed Internet Radio Fairness Act at the very end of November. Sources tell Billboard.biz a hearing will likely take place November 27, 28 or 29, though a representative for the House Judiciary Committee noted that a specific date has yet to be announced.

According to Billboard.biz, the hearing will most likely feature testimony from two witnesses on each side of the argument. A representative from Pandora and a terrestrial broadcaster would testify in support of the bill, while a representative from SoundExchange and a musician would likely testify against it.

The Internet Radio Fairness Act is not expected to be officially introduced before the end of 2012, but the hearing would be used to set up the issues going forward into the new year.

Last month, Clear Channel, Pandora and a number of other organizations have formed the Internet Radio Fairness Coalition, aiming to urge Congress to pass the proposed Internet Radio Fairness Act.

Over the weekend, The New York Times ran an extensive feature on the proposed bill and its potential effects. Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman told the paper that a change in royalty rates could generate more money overall, saying, "It’s not so much about rates as about how much dollars you spend. The amount of dollars to artists is rate times volume. If the rate suppresses the volume, there’s less money. If it encourages volume, there’s more money."